Michael's strokes, Tippy's pickoffs

One out.

Martinez walked the next batter, Dave Collins.

Considering what had just happened to Bonnell, you'd think Collins would have been a tad more cautious about taking a big lead off the bag. But he wasn't, and Martinez nailed him, too.

Big roar from the crowd. Two outs.

Is this a beautiful story, or what?

The next Toronto batter, Willie Upshaw, hit a single off Martinez.

Now this Upshaw, who would later coach in the majors, must not have been paying attention. Or perhaps he was certain the two earlier pickoffs had been flukes.

You have to wonder what the guy was thinking because, before Blue Jays' first base coach John Sullivan could finish his sentence, "Whatever you do, don't get picked off," Upshaw got picked off.

(Someday, they ought to produce a television show called What Were You Thinking? and make Willie Upshaw the leadoff guest.)

There was another ecstatic roar from the crowd, and the Orioles ran off the field.

That's not the end of the story. The other day at lunch at New No Da Ji, the Korean buffet at 25th and Charles, Turkey Joe Trabert, one of the world's greatest experts, reminded everyone of something: Cal Ripken tied the game in the bottom of the 10th with a home run. Then Sakata, the no-experience catcher who had made the Blue Jays runners ripe for the pickings, hit a homer that won the game.

I looked it up, and Turkey Joe was right again. That's the kind of magical thing Orioles fans never forget, and it's a great story to tell kids who have grown up with the Camden Yards Orioles but without a pennant run.

In the annals of Maryland sports, Michael Phelps moves to No. 1 on the list of greatest achievements. But leave a little room on the list for Tippy, Lenny and that night they mowed the Blue Jays down.

Dollars and bills

I just saw a horror film called I.O.U.S.A. The Baltimore-based publisher of financial and lifestyles newsletters, Agora Inc., backed its production. It's the Inconvenient Truth of fiscal policy, an important documentary about our enormous, potentially devastating national debt - more than $9 trillion, plus trillions more in unfunded entitlement programs. Every American should get to see this. (Are we allowed to burn copies?) It affirms what we've all come to know: that we can't go on like this, racking up enormous institutional and personal debt, abiding a trade imbalance that threatens political stability, and tolerating dunderheads who refuse to see or talk about it.

Mourning Martick

Many readers responded to Thursday's column about the end of Martick's Restaurant Francais and the looming retirement of its owner, Morris Martick. Here's a memory from Mark Winebrenner, who used to work at Nick's Inner Harbor Seafood in Cross Street Market, where Morris Martick did his shopping: "When he came to the market to do his own shopping, he hand-picked everything and did his own filleting of the fish. No one touched his product. ... I could lament these losses of a city's characters and unique jewels, but I think it is best to just let go. They were a part of my life that I will never get back (just like my 20s and 30s). I suppose it's a good thing, or else I would be waking up like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day."

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Dan Rodricks can be heard on "Midday," Mondays through Thursdays, noon to 2 p.m., on 88.1 WYPR-FM.

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